Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is perhaps one of the most important pieces in this jigsaw in terms of public accountability and public engagement. Neither the Minister of State nor I want councillors in backrooms talking to qualified planners and chief executives about what should and should not be granted permission and how to determine planning applications because that is not the role of county councillors.

My understanding is that councillors are the guardians and custodians of their county development plans. They are proud to play the major part in the forming and shaping of those plans. They have been and will be curtailed but it makes sense because we must have regard to the hierarchy of planning, from the national planning framework to the regional planning, the county development plans, the strategic development plans, local area plans, LAPs, and even urban and village plans that some progressive local authorities promote and push. As I have stated previously, we need an educational programme to explain to both elected members and the public generally the hierarchy of the planning system. As this is all completed, it is time that we review that.I understand the situation because I was at the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, meeting in Donegal and last week I was in Dungarvan where I heard two of the Ministers in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, say they are committed to this issue - I have also heard the Minister of State himself in the past say he is committed to it - and, in fact, both made announcements about supporting no fee for planners. It is a foregone conclusion and I hope the Minister of State will confirm that here and now for the record of the House because councillors are keen to know.

Planners do not always get it right. I have been involved in 30 or 40 planning objections in the past 12 months. Some of them were not even in my name but I have written them and they all mostly relate to my own county development plan because I know it intimately. I have been involved in three of them in that county. In some cases, the people have had to pay themselves, but I have given them the little expertise I have, and it is more knowledge than expertise because I know that particular plan well. We have been successful. In some cases, we have had to appeal to An Bord Pleanála and we have been successful there. It is interesting to look at the success rates in some local authorities. That is not to say "well done" or vice versato the planners, but they do not always get it right. They are sometimes motivated by other considerations. There is an economic consideration that is also part of the functions of a local authority, and rightly so. The difficulty is that where my proposal differs from Senator Humphreys is that I acknowledge there could be difficulties if we roll out a free for all for everyone because what will possibly happen is that councillors will come back in 12 months and say they are now doing hundreds of objections on a monthly basis. That is not what we want and that is not right either.